Ian Hunter – review

"I don't know if this is what you're expecting, but this is what you've got," says Ian Hunter with a laugh. Rather than bringing a rock show to town, he's touring with just an electric guitarist and a chap who perches a giant double bass on an equally formidable beer belly. However, the former Mott the Hoople frontman has always been his own man. David Bowie penned Mott's best-known song, All the Young Dudes, but he points out that one of his own glam-era hits, Roll Away the Stone, sold three times as many copies as Bowie's song.

These days, Hunter addresses both his own state and the state of the world. "The rich get rich, the poor get sorer," he sings, witheringly. More comically, Words (Big Mouth) addresses the difficulties of waking up "shitfaced" to face "the wife", and When I'm President wonderfully imagines this expatriate Briton – he now lives in Connecticut – with his "ugly mug on Mount Rushmore", where his trademark big sunglasses would provide a curious diversion from the stern presidents carved into the rock face.

With his Dylan rasp, it beggars belief that Hunter is 73. However, the second hour powerfully addresses mortality. When My Mind's Gone is more poignant than when it was written around 40 years ago, and Michael Picasso – Hunter's heartfelt tribute to guitarist Mick Ronson, who died 20 years ago next month – is unusually emotional.

He shuns the hits before Roll Away and Dudes turn the old theatre into a sing-song, but the lovely new song Life contemplates survival. "I can't believe I'm still here. I can't believe you're still here," he sings to his loyal fanbase, but the standing ovation suggests he needn't worry.

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